It is known from the field of explosion welding that if a metal plate is accelerated to a high velocity and permitted to collide with another metal plate under certain given conditions the two plates will be joined together through a band of high mechanical strength.
It is also known to weld together, e.g., pipes in the production of pipelines.
All of these known methods, however, require the workpieces concerned to overlap one another.
This means that conventional fusion-welding control methods can not be applied and that the joint construction in its entirety becomes more complicated. With regard to pipelines, new problems relating, e.g., to disturbances in flow and the risk of crevice corrosion are also likely to occur.